


Zillo Beast: Hero of the Republic

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-16 20:05:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: The Zillo Beast is hunting the author of its misfortunes. What if... Palpatine is caught and eaten by the Beast?





	1. Chomp

That was Yoda and General Secura running around on the Zillo Beast, Anakin realized as he grabbed for Padmé, pulling her back up to safety-- then he pulled her close and decided to jump for the stable ground below. Keeping their fall easy was hard... harder than it had been since he was a young Padawan. His knees protested as he hit the decking harder than he'd meant to, but at least now they were a little farther away, a little safer. Not that much of anything was safe right now, with that monster on the loose. He saw it staring at the Chancellor and one of the Guard, a growl rumbling deep in its chest, and yelled for Artoo. Artoo was fast, nimble, he could get to the Chancellor and get him out. 

Artoo agreed, leaving Threepio to cling to his cable, and zipped forward, heading to get the Chancellor. Anakin's flesh hand flexed on Padmé's wrist, feeling helpless against something his lightsaber couldn't touch -- and then he cried out as that massive tail hit Artoo and sent his friend spinning off-course, back towards him. He stretched out with the Force, focused on stabilizing Artoo... and then the Beast _jumped_ forward and down, jaws opening in a roar. The Guard shoved the Chancellor back, getting between him and the threat -- and the Beast's jaws snapped closed around them both. 

It felt like one of the teeth shoved through his own back and chest, the pure pain knocking Anakin to his knees with a groan -- and as blue light (a cannon maybe?) started to flare around the Beast's mouth, a scream ripped out of his throat and he felt blank nothingness yank him under. 

"Ani?! ANAKIN!" Padmé yelled, as she had to catch his weight, and keep them from skidding on the slick surface of the deck. She didn't have any conscious thought but keeping him safe, yet the back of her mind, the politician, knew that the Zillo Beast had just plunged the Republic into a crisis unlike any other they had faced in this war yet.

Levels below and half a klick away, Obi-Wan felt pain and then blankness, and his gaze ripped from the sight of the Beast's mouth chomping on human flesh and roaring as some device exploded in blue fire. His head swiveled towards where the blazing presence of his Padawan... wasn't. No. No, Anakin had to be fine, he -- 

\-- what was _that_!? Energy hit him, a shockwave of the Force, and his need to get to Anakin only increased. 

Leaping down the back of the Zillo Beast, Master Yoda fell, lightsaber dropping from his hand as only grabbing with both hands saved him from a fall, while the death-echo of a powerful Sith ripped through the psychic landscape of Coruscant. Even his focus on the struggle before them did not protect him from it, and he dangled from one spine, talons clenching. 

Aayla Secura's teeth clenched hard as her mind was assaulted by a wave of foul thoughts and energy, consumed by power and hatred, before she was able to call on Master Tholme's protections, long-since placed in her mind from misadventures of her youth, to steady herself and try to reach out in the Force for Master Yoda. It felt sluggish, the way the energy flowed, as unwilling to assist her in saving the small Master as it had been in keeping her balance on the Beast.

Then, as if all fight had left it, the giant beast brought itself parallel to the dock and dropped, legs flexing at the knees to allow it to go supine.

At least that made it simple to get Master Yoda and herself safely down to the decking. She did not understand, at all, but that it had laid down... "Master Windu, it's not fighting any more!" 

Padmé stared at the Beast as it shifted its weight, seeming to lie down more comfortably, tucking its head down a little closer, her arms full of her unconscious husband. "Ani," she called to him, shaking him gently, "Ani, we need you, my love..."

Artoo rolled closer, his dome swiveling between Anakin and the Beast, and he beeped worriedly. Threepio righted himself from the few meters away and started to trot towards them, looking back at the Beast in some panic as he ran towards them. 

Where Mace should have been, there was no answer, and Aayla looked in that direction to see a trooper kneeling over the spilled form of an unconscious Jedi Master. That made her hurry, wondering how Mace had gotten hurt in all of this.

Obi-Wan, on the other hand, was deeply unaware of the trials and fates of any of the other Jedi present as he hurried to get to Anakin. What had taken him out so suddenly? Finding that Padmé was holding his unconscious form did nothing to ease his worries. Idly, he did not want to have to explain to Ahsoka that he'd let her master get hurt. The ludicrousness of that thought helped him gather his wits back to himself as he came to the Senator.

"Was he hit by something, Senator?" he managed to ask.

Padmé shook her head, looking up at Obi-Wan. "No. He... Artoo tried to go get the Chancellor, got hit, he'd managed to catch Artoo when he just -- I don't know, he dropped to his knees, then screamed and... dropped. He's not injured, not anywhere I can find, at least, but he won't wake up!" 

+++

Yoda was trying to gather his shaken wits, breathing, when his comm chirped urgently. "General Yoda," a trooper's voice called, "should we continue the assault? We have the toxin bombs in range, but no authority to proceed without an order." 

"Do not!" Yoda ordered. "Transport, arrange it. Deploy stun tanks, you will."

There was no more harm in the creature, and its drive… had been so singular. How had it tracked the author of its misery across part of the planet like that? More importantly, the Order owed it their gratitude, even if many lives had been lost in its need to find the Sith.

Yoda could not deny that one of the two men last killed was Sith, not with the Force being as it was, and he was certain it was not the poor guard. 

"Yes sir," the trooper agreed, and Yoda heard those orders being relayed as he attempted to locate his lightsaber in the chaotic mess of the Force. 

+++

Aayla had reached the trooper, one she didn't recognize from Master Windu's unit, and she asked as she knelt on the opposite side, her hands flicking over his body, searching for wounds, "What happened, soldier?" 

"Not certain, sir!" the trooper responded. "We were focused on the Beast, but when the explosion happened, General Windu collapsed, or at least that's the best I could tell, having turned at the sound of him falling, sir." The voice was chagrined; a Jedi had been allowed to fall without being caught.

Aayla shook her head, reaching one hand to lay it across the trooper's gauntlet, "It's not your fault, soldier. Your focus was where it should have been." Could Master Windu have been felled not by battle, but by whatever that sudden onslaught had been? How then had she stayed aware and capable, when he was so much stronger than she was? 

+++

Obi-Wan knelt beside Anakin, sinking into the Force… why was that so difficult?... and reached for Anakin's mind. //Anakin, padawan, brother....//

Anakin was too unconscious to respond, but as Obi-Wan opened to the Force and touched him, tried to reach him, it was instantly obvious that there was profound psychic trauma. His unshielded psyche was a roil of pain and chaos, almost as though a -- as though a bond had been snapped. 

"How could he be facing that?" Obi-Wan asked, as he came up out of the link before the echo of Anakin's trauma pulled into his own. Qui-Gon, in trying to ask him to train Anakin, had also been shunting their bond away, yet death had come before it was fully dissolved. "I must get him to the Healers, at the Temple, Padmé," Obi-Wan said, forgetting formality for the moment.

"Facing what?" Padmé asked, looking across her husband's body at his closest friend and beloved Master. "No, never mind. Will you take one of the troop ships, or shall I call Captain Typho for a skimmer for you?" 

"Mistress Padmé, Master Ani _is_ still functional, isn't he?" Threepio asked, trying to crouch down, though his frame was not at all built for that, his optics glowing with worried intensity, and she freed one hand to pat him gently, keeping her sigh at his timing to herself.

"Yes, Threepio. Anakin will be all right," she reassured him, and Artoo made a relieved noise of his own.

"It looks like the men are deploying according to someone's command," Obi-Wan said, running a hand through his hair to shove it back. "If we can lean on Naboo assistance one more time, I would appreciate it." That it would allow Padmé to stay near until they had a better answer didn't need to be said. 

"Of course," Padmé answered, and pulled out the comm from her robes, calling to the Captain of her guard with where they were and her need for him. "...Obi-Wan. Why did the Beast stop? It's just... laying there, even though they're hitting it with the stun rays, when it was so fierce. I -- I don't understand." 

Obi-Wan looked from Padmé to the Beast, ignoring the droids who were apparently now arguing over the correct terminology for human functionality, and sighed. "I honestly don't know. There was a massive disturbance in the Force, though."

Padmé shook her head, her fingers running through Anakin's hair without her intent. He had to be all right, he just had to be. A disturbance in the Force... well _that_ was clear. 

Obi-Wan carefully ignored the blatant physical affection from the Senator to his former padawan, keeping his eyes averted, even as his hand rested on the younger man's shoulder. "Anakin, what have you gotten into, that you are suffering like this?" he whispered under his breath.

+++

Master Yoda finally felt his lightsaber's signature and was able to draw it over before he forced himself to walk toward Mace's location. He was getting too old for these kinds of maneuvers, yet he knew he wouldn't stop until the Force called him back. Perhaps Commander Thire had his stick for him; the trooper was usually quick to lend him aid after battle.

Just as he'd hoped, Commander Thire did come trotting towards him as soon as he made the same level as the tanks, his gimer stick held lightly in one gauntleted hand. "Sir. You're all right? General Windu is -- " 

"Tired, I am," Yoda told his faithful trooper. He accepted the stick and used it to continue his way. Nor was he surprised that what had pushed over and through him had been too much for his young friend. "Master Windu, recover, he will. To him, guide me."

"Yes sir," Commander Thire replied, and turned to lead his General back to General Windu. 

Aayla looked up in relief as she heard the sound of Master Yoda's stick tapping towards her. She'd been unable to bring Master Windu around with what she knew how to do, but surely he would know something to do, some way to help... or at least be able to explain what that wave of malevolent power had been. Something thrown from the Beast? 

No, that made no sense... 

"Worry, do not. Ally, the Beast has become, even if not by design," Yoda told Aayla, looking at the young Knight. "Truth of our enemy has been learned today, hmm." The small, ancient Jedi looked again to the Beast that was being prepped for removal to a better planet. "In the Outer Rim, much have you been. Suggest a planet without sentients, but plentiful prey, will you?"

Aayla blinked. "What, Master?" she asked, her head tilting to the side, her lekku flexing in confusion. "I'm sorry; I don't understand what I sensed. Or why the Beast stopped." 

Its huge eyes were closed, now, its wild presence settling into quiet rest... at least there was no more danger to the populace. "Of course. I'll need to think for a bit, but I will find somewhere for it to go." 

Yoda nodded at her for that answer, then considered. "Meeting, in the Temple, we shall have. All Jedi must be told. Those in field, connect with them through secure means we shall." He would use the fact that some maintained training (or other) bonds to get the entire Order aware at once of the deceit that had happened. He dropped a hand to Mace's shoulder, projecting strength to his friend, to help him find the way back.

That was a gentle reminder that not all things should be discussed in public, and Aayla fell silent, staying with the Masters, hoping for things to make sense soon. 

Mace Windu twitched at the touch, again at the flow of energy, and slowly managed to open one eye. He had a screaming headache that was in every inch of his body, and did not really want to be conscious... but he was aware again, so that didn't much matter. 

He couldn't sense any of the shatterpoints he was so familiar with, nothing of the shrouded, dangerous paths that had been there for years. There... were no shatterpoints, at this moment, or at least... no defined ones. At this moment, he slowly realized, nothing was certain, no course of action sure enough to define a nexus. 

He shifted enough to see Yoda, saw those old eyes looking down at him with compassion and … hope? Peace? Shame?

The mix made no sense.

"Much to go through, we have. Rest until at the Temple, you should," Yoda advised him. "Knight Secura, instruct the troopers with where to take their ward, you should. Best to make a bay into a stasis field, yes?" He was gently nudging her toward duty, as the Beast had to be taken care of without further loss of life.

"Yes, Master," Aayla replied, nodding once before she pushed to her feet and jogged towards the knot of ARC pauldrons and heavily decorated armor that meant _vod'e_ officers. 

"Their... ward?" Mace asked, trying to sit up. Blake was there instantly, arm behind his back and lifting, a quiet 'here, sir' murmured below the conversation. "What...?"

"Saved us all, the Beast has," Yoda said softly, just to guide Mace's awareness to the truth of the situation without saying it aloud where others would hear it. Caution, he had decided, was needed, until the Sith hold on everything was unraveled fully. "Speak more, when back at the Temple."

+++

Padmé shook her head slightly, realized what she was doing, and slipped her hand to rest under Anakin's back instead. Obi-Wan's quiet, worried whisper concerned her very much, but she was no Jedi, to understand what was happening to her husband if the other Jedi present didn't feel like explaining it. 

Obi-Wan realized that he didn't need to antagonize Padmé, or let her get too frustrated; Anakin was more likely to turn to her for support, after all. Especially with Anakin's padawan currently assisting Luminara and her padawan far from Coruscant, Obi-Wan decided, even as he considered that a blessing. The girl was too volatile at times, too much… too much like Anakin.

"He's showing all signs of having had a Force Bond ripped out of his mind, yet it was close-by, meaning I have no worry for his padawan. Yet, I cannot think of a single Jedi that could possibly have died today in this carnage, and Anakin has few friends among them anyway. So… logic says it was the Chancellor. But that makes no sense, even with the Force disturbance, now does it?"

Padmé shook her head, listening intently to the words, to what Obi-Wan said, frowning in unease. A bond ripped out of his mind? Anakin had started to fall before the Chancellor died (this was the first time she had let herself consciously think of the fact that her mentor was dead), but... not before he was attacked. That still made no sense, though, as there were many regulations on beings with the Force holding seats in the Senate, or positions of power in most Republic worlds. She knew nothing of even a rumor of his having had any Force sensitivity or skill... "No," she said softly, "it does not."

The sound of one of her skimmers reached her ears, and Padmé looked over his shoulder, relieved to see her handmaiden at its helm, her Captain beside her. "Our skimmer, my friend." 

"Threepio, assist me," Obi-Wan said, pulling Anakin up, and the protocol droid managed to get under an arm and hold it in place so they could both move the unconscious Jedi. He ignored Padmé's indignant look that she could have; Threepio was taller.

"Where to, milady?" Yané asked from the pilot's position, refusing to comment on any of the carnage.

Padmé stopped glaring at Obi-Wan, moving instead to get into the skimmer quickly and help from there. That doing so might let her keep her husband in her arms a little longer was far from the point. "The Jedi Temple, Yané. General Skywalker needs the Healers, as swiftly as possible. 

"Artoo, I'm sorry, but can you clamp on to the aft? There's not a lot of room up here." 

Artoo beeped a firm assent and lifted up. He maneuvered to where he was close to his pilot's frame, then engaged his magnetic clamps to keep a watchful presence next to him. Threepio awkwardly clambered into the small third-row, finding hand-holds to keep himself in place. 

Even being _moved_ hadn't brought Anakin awake, Padmé realized with a new flare of worry.


	2. Churning

Padmé was certain she had never been anywhere near this deep inside the Jedi Temple, and she felt profoundly out of place. It was not a usual feeling for her, nor one she appreciated... but she hardly cared, given that Obi-Wan had been the one to ask her to remain with Anakin. She had sent Threepio back with Yané, promising to update him -- but she was certain she and Obi-Wan were in no state to listen to his unsettled chattering. His Maker being in pain made Threepio's nervous personality even more obvious, after all. 

Artoo, who had boosted himself down from the back of the skimmer, had turned his optical spot and holoprojector on her so intently that she hadn't tried to tell him to go along. He had chosen to stay with Anakin, after all. 

"Knight Nimpur," Obi-Wan said, catching the healer before she could fuss over the non-Jedi or the droid. "Both the R2 unit and Senator Amidala may be needed for the investigation into what happened to Knight Skywalker."

"And what, Master Kenobi, has he done this time?" the healer asked, backing down from the member of the Council. She was no Vokara Che to hold her ground.

Padmé drew on all of her decorum as a member of the Galactic Senate to keep from glaring at the Devaronian woman for her tone. As though Anakin was the one responsible for this -- and as though when he got himself hurt, it wasn't because he was trying to protect others! Wasn't that what the Jedi were sworn to in the first place? She took a low breath, making herself calm down more. 

She did lay her hand down on Artoo, though, to keep him from making _his_ opinions known. 

There was a single rude noise… and Obi-Wan made a gesture low, at the droid. He kept his charm turned on the Knight that did seem, sadly, to be the one nearly always on duty when Anakin had been … caught up in a moment.

"From what I can determine, Anakin is suffering the backlash of a shattered Force Bond. Yet… I live, and it doesn't feel as recent as the one he holds with his padawan."

Krieth blinked in shock. "But she is his only padawan to date, and you should be the only other one with that access." She started tapping orders into her datapad, knowing how to treat the physical symptoms, and mitigate the mental ones until the patient came conscious.

Padmé kept quiet, moving to take a position against a wall, to be out of the way of whatever the healer needed to do, while staying as close to Anakin as she could. She listened to the discussion, holding her tongue. Obi-Wan had better be certain that Ahsoka was all right, because if he was wrong, her hus -- her Anakin was going to be devastated. 

But then, he was also going to be devastated at the loss of the Chancellor. During the ten years they had spent apart, Anakin had somehow come to consider the Chancellor one of his closest friends. Closer than any Jedi other than his Master, she thought from everything she had ever heard him say. But the idea that the man could have had some kind of powerful Force connection to Anakin... that had her skin absolutely crawling. 

For the first time since Anakin had fallen, she wondered who had taken the responsibility of telling the Senate that the Chancellor was dead. Master Yoda, perhaps? Not Obi-Wan; he had never left Anakin. None of the clones, even the officers, would take that on themselves. 

As the Senator with him at his death, it might fall to her -- but she was loathe to take that action without first discussing it with the Jedi. 

"I'm seeing here that he has a bad reaction to the usual euphoric we would use to treat the mental shock," Krieth told Obi-Wan, frowning. "May we try this alternative?" she asked, showing Obi-Wan the difference between the two drugs.

"I think that might be safe. Senator, during his stay with you, did Anakin ever have a bad reaction to goru pears that you know of? I understand they are a common food on Naboo, and this euphoric shares a chemical base with them."

His eyes settled on her face, and it seemed like he was reaching out to her with full knowledge of her place in Anakin's life.

She was shocked at that, but he needed her help. She thought back to those days on Naboo, to the mornings... "No. He decided he didn't care for the taste, but he didn't have any kind of... allergic reaction, or aversion to them." 

"Thank you, Senator," Obi-Wan said. "Yes, Knight Nimpur, please use that euphoric. It will help keep the trauma at bay as he awakens, if I recall correctly?"

Krieth's demeanor softened some, instead of bristling over being asked to explain her techniques. Of course Obi-Wan Kenobi would know why euphorics were given in these cases. "Yes, Master Kenobi. They act as a cushion, and to distance it, as if happening to another, until a mind healer can find and touch the raw psychic connections."

That made sense, Padmé thought, and nodded slightly. Blocking Anakin from fully experiencing this pain... if only someone had been able to do that for him when he held his mother as she died, he might not have been so... wounded. Or still so... caustic, she decided after a moment. She would not ask now, but.. later, of Obi-Wan, if there was a way to detect and soothe old trauma of that kind. 

Obi-Wan was trying to help Padmé understand. She needed to, as Anakin's universal center. She would be the one to cope with any nightmares that they could not alleviate, after all. That bringing her also delayed a report to the Senate was only secondary in his mind; he was uncertain what stance they would take as an Order, but their protests against bringing the Beast to Coruscant were officially in the record at least.

It did not take long to get Anakin situated in a hospital bed, and the med patches applied properly. For Anakin, Obi-Wan could mostly cope with the Hall, though he wished for his robe, to hide his hands so he could let his fingers move the agitation he did feel. It wouldn't do to present anything but 'concerned' Master, though, and he forced himself to be still.

Padmé was profoundly amused, not for the first time, at how _much_ clothing Jedi men wore, this time because the healers needed access to Anakin's chest to place their patches. Obi-Wan's eyes, his posture, were haunted and painfully, deliberately still, and she moved towards him from the wall, stepping to just outside of where his 'personal space' seemed to be, looking up at him. Anakin loved him, and so she was concerned. "...it's so strange to see him still..." 

"I've generally only seen him be still at two points. Incredibly injured, or brooding," Obi-Wan said softly, eyes going down to the woman. "The brooding kind always ended in an explosion of motion, though."

He preferred to think on those as versus the times Anakin's exuberance, or his own lack of caution, had led to trips here. He probably shouldn't have encouraged Anakin to evade the healers so successfully, over the years, but he couldn't quite help himself.

He would never forget the laboratory, the reek of evil, the memory of Qui-Gon literally being wasted away to nothingness that had started his avoidance of the Hall and other med facilities. It was, to this day, the hardest duty for him with his own men, save overseeing funerals.

Padmé made a half-amused, half-sympathetic noise. It was still hard for her to believe at times that the brilliant, open, giving boy she had first met had turned into someone that coiled around his pain and let it claw at him... but he felt everything so passionately, perhaps it was no surprise. "So they do," she agreed. The length of time it took could vary, but if Anakin was brooding, he would suddenly snap into movement at the making of some decision. "So they do." 

The Knight healer left the room, and Padmé asked softly, "Is she not one that can do the... mental... side of what he needs?" 

"I'm not certain there is a mind healer that can, but no, Krieth is not a healer of the mind. Master Che is a mind healer, but I have doubts on Anakin accepting her any better than I did." That last slipped out without his meaning to, but he tried hard not to put more stress on his words by acting like they meant much now. "I can try to guide him to self-healing, but again, there is a lack of trust and rapport there, since we're not in the middle of combat.

"If he doesn't accept a healer, I may need to recall his padawan, and ask her to reach out. At least he does have a rapport with her, though his need to protect her might make it difficult."

Padmé was confused at the way Obi-Wan said that, so she paused and considered it. When Anakin and Obi-Wan were facing a threat from outside (something she had seen too many times), they became one seamless whole. When they were just interacting... that chaotic dissonance roiled up in Anakin and they snapped and snarled at each other like vine tigers suddenly in each other's territory, rather than friends of more than half of Anakin's life. 

"He's... so complicated about you," she said softly. "Torn between absolute adoration and an almost, mm, vicious, resentment. It's disconcerting to watch." 

"Should try living it," Obi-Wan muttered before shaking his head. "Pardon me, Senator. I believe the negative energies in the Force may be affecting me." He had felt a wash of foulness behind the lancing pain from Anakin, not unlike the feeling he always got when near Maul.

"It's all right," Padmé replied, laying her fingers gently on his forearm for a moment. "I'm sure that was true, if pointed. He is, after all... Anakin." 

She loved him more than she could ever express, but that didn't mean she was blind to the ways he was beyond difficult to deal with. 

"He's under a lot of stress," Obi-Wan said, apologetically. "And I never found the right way to help him with his emotions."

He looked to Anakin, seeing the first signs of tension entering his muscles. It wouldn't be long now; he just hoped the patches did their work fast enough.

"He is," Padmé agreed, and then Obi-Wan's attention changed, and she saw the difference in Anakin. He was closer to waking, now. "Obi-Wan. You're certain about this coming from the Chancellor?" she asked, before she moved to take a seat on the medical berth on Anakin's left side. She never objected to his biomechanical hand, but he sometimes objected to her taking it. 

Obi-Wan stood on the left as well, but not touching Anakin, not when he was more likely to prefer Padmé's presence no matter what.

"I believe so, Padmé," he answered the question. "The pain I felt hit as the Chancellor was caught in the Beast's mouth."

"...first his mother, almost you in the same day... and now this? This loss, along with a bond that shouldn't have even been _possible_?" Padmé murmured, then Anakin twitched, and she murmured softly, "Shh, Ani, shh, I'm here..." 

Everything hurt. Everything hurt, worse than Dooku's Force Lightning, and Anakin didn't want to be awake to feel it... but that was his Angel's voice. His Angel, his wife. She was always worth being awake for. Always worth his attention, even when being conscious hurt. He cracked open an eye, looking for her, found her... and then found his Master right behind her. That made him certain he was still unconscious, because it looked like they -- like _she_ \-- was in the Healer's Hall in the Temple, and that couldn't be. 

"Let the medicine work, Anakin," Obi-Wan urged. "You need to not fight it," he added, keeping his voice modulated to 'request' as much as he could. A year and more of war had made that harder than ever.

"...huh?" Anakin asked, baffled, closing his eyes to try to figure out how both Padmé and Obi-Wan could be here, and what he meant about medicine... Well, everything did hurt, so maybe something had stomped on him, somehow? One of the big Seppie walkers? That didn't seem right, and he tried again to figure out what Obi-Wan meant. He was still in most of his robes, but there were patches on his chest, and his mind felt... felt... floaty, where it wasn't a blaze of agony. 

Floaty, and he couldn't concentrate... "What'm I on? And... what happened?" 

Padmé squeezed his fingers gently, trying to be a quiet support. 

"It's a euphoric, Anakin. I need to know if there are any of the healers you are good friends with, someone you will let tend psychic trauma," Obi-Wan asked, hoping the medicine had taken enough effect to bypass the usual paranoia.

Anakin opened his eyes again, looking to his Master, then at his Angel. A euphoric... he hated having his mind clouded, why had the healers decided on that? And what did Obi-Wan mean, 'psychic trauma'? 

Was he friends with any of the healers? He snorted, edged and disparaging, knowing his lip was curling. As if. Jedi Healers were even worse than the padawans his age for being ignorant idiots that thought they knew everything about how the galaxy worked. Like kriff he was letting one anywhere near his head. "Why does my head... hurt so much?"

"You don't remember, Ani?" Padmé asked quietly, relieved as his attention came to her. Her fingers squeezed his, trying to keep him steady. 

Obi-Wan ran a hand through his hair again, watching Anakin. "There was a small incident. It has lashed back through you." This was going to be so unpleasant. "We need to ease the injuries it inflicted, before they can scar and damage your Force abilities."

Anakin cocked his head slightly, trying to make sense of that Padmé was calling him by her nickname for him, right there in front of his Master, that his Master was showing distress, his head was screaming in agony, and his Master was lying through his teeth. 

Not about the injuries, but 'small incident' was bantha shit. 

Damage his Force abilities? That -- no. He couldn't let that happen. 

What didn't he remember? What could have backlashed through him like this? Why? He didn't... he wasn't the one that... 

/Artoo, being hit by a massive tail. Trying to catch him, the Force sluggish and unwilling to answer his call. The Beast moving, leaping down, and -- pain. **Pain** , as the tooth went through the Chancellor's body.../ 

What? 

Why had he felt... 

"We do actually need you to try and communicate with us beyond the scowls, Anakin," Obi-Wan chided, really needing him to actually give a clue as to which way they should go with further treatment. 

Artoo gave a worried beep, then asked if his pilot was going to be alright, or if he should try rebooting again.

Padmé did not giggle at Artoo, no matter how tempting it was, her fingers squeezing his hand again, before she shot a look at Obi-Wan. Agitating Anakin wasn't going to help... but Artoo seemed to have distracted him. 

Anakin heard Artoo, his eyes flicking around until he found him. "...I think I need another reboot, Artoo, you're right -- but first I need to do some defragging, buddy." 

He lifted his eyes again, finding his Master, his head tipping with his confusion. "I... the Zillo Beast. It... got loose. It was hunting. It wanted -- it wanted... but why did I feel the tooth?" 

"Always stubborn, my padawan," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. He ignored the look from Padmé, and absently dropped his hand on Anakin's leg, just above the knee. "You felt the tooth because, somehow, there was a Force bond between you and the Chancellor," he said, braced for the emotional storm.

Touch, from both of them? It felt real, but... well, the pain definitely felt real, too. "You wouldn't know what to -- **what?!** " 

That couldn't be. The Chancellor didn't -- he wasn't -- and he would never have tried to make a bond with him, the Chancellor was too important, mattered too much to... to presume like that with. And the Chancellor wasn't sensitive anyway; that wasn't allowed for someone in the Senate. He shook his head, denying it, and Padmé squeezed his hand sharply, drawing his attention to her face. 

"Ani. I know this seems pretty impossible," she said softly. "But his death affected you strongly. So please, help us help you."

Obi-Wan drew his hand back, certain being the bearer of bad news was enough to make it unwanted, now that he had realized he was doing it. "I think life has been complicated greatly by this unexpected event, Anakin."

Anakin tried to follow his Master's touch -- he didn't get enough of it to like having it taken away -- even as he kept his gaze on Padmé's. "I -- I didn't try to make one, and he's not --" 

Padmé saying 'his death' was a blow to his already aching chest. She wouldn't say it if she wasn't sure. If he hadn't lost another of the most important people in his world. Grief coiled in his chest, pain and loss, though it felt... distant, almost as if it was someone else's grief. But at the same time, it felt... it felt like he was drowning in it. Like there was a hole, gaping and raw, the way he hadn't felt since his mother died in his arms. 

Anakin felt like part of him was reaching for something that wasn't there any more... He reached for the bond with his Master -- and there was Obi-Wan, solid and steady and real, not as composed as he was pretending -- and tried to touch his padawan. Far away, faint, but there anyway. Padmé was right here, her presence a steady shine that he could always touch even if she couldn't touch him back, and then... 

...blackness gaped open, trying to drag him under. Clawing at him, almost sucking, endless Dark -- 

\-- he tried to fling himself back from it and failed, because that was _wrong_. 

//No, Anakin!//

Obi-Wan had felt the touch on their bond, used it as an invitation to listen more closely, and now threw himself after his padawan's presence, refusing to lose him, refusing to be left behind by yet another person he loved--

"Anakin, stay with me," Padmé pleaded, not able to know what was happening, but _certain_ he wasn't really focusing on her right now.

Anakin's Master's voice called to him, away from that black dark void, his Angel called to him aloud, and that gave him things to grab for, ways to hold on. He heard his Master's thought, too, not just the call but the desperation not to lose him... That was -- beyond belief, but he knew it was real, too, and he latched on tighter. Love, from the man that mattered most in the _world_ to him, in his mind bolstering him, pulling him back... 

Anakin sucked a gasping breath, another one, a third, and opened his eyes to find his Angel, her mouth open on his name again. "I -- I'm here.. I think? I -- Master?" 

Kriff, he sounded _six_. And not in _vod'e_ years, either. 

"Thank the Force," Obi-Wan murmured, eyes dark with the worry and anticipation of pain as he looked down at Anakin.

"Good," Padmé said, squeezing his hand again. She wanted to crawl into his arms, and just be held.

"I could go request a sedative?" Obi-Wan offered, unsure how to help. "See if that puts a little more distance between you and this, since you've fully pushed the euphoric away."

"I don't need distance... I need to figure out what _happened_ , what just -- and oh, kriff **off** , like you'd take not knowing any better than I am!" 

"Anakin," Padmé said, soft but intent, her hand sliding up his arm to cup around his cheek, "shhh... Shhh, Ani. Obi-Wan is worried about you, please don't lash out at him." 

Anakin snorted for a moment, but the feeling of his Master's grateful agreement brushed over him, and that startled the temper out of him. Padmé was right? 

Well, she normally was, but right about Obi-Wan? And not... she was being so obvious, was it -- he leaned into her hand, letting his eyes half-close, and watched his Master through his lashes for the response. If he didn't snap, or scold, maybe... 

Obi-Wan hoped that Padmé could get Anakin to remain calm, even as he darted his eyes and other senses to the door to be certain no one came to check on them. He didn't feel any others too close.

"Having gone through this to a lesser degree, Anakin, I'd prefer to keep the full weight of it from falling on you too quickly," he said, once certain they had privacy.

His Master didn't argue, or glare, or even feel as though he disagreed, and the look on his face... he looked... almost hopeful. Protective, the way he hadn't been in so long, and -- he hadn't said anything about Padmé. He hadn't, he wasn't... "Oh," Anakin replied, blinking once at his Master. Of course Obi-Wan knew what a shattered bond felt like, Master Qui-Gon had died so quickly... 

...but that still didn't explain how he could have one with the Chancellor. "I... if there's more of _that_ ," by which he meant that sucking void of blackness and pain that checking his abilities had found, "maybe you're right about... not so quickly. But I still don't understand how it _happened_..." 

And he hated sedatives. He couldn't get out of the nightmares under them. 

"I don't understand how it exists at all, Anakin, but I fear the Chancellor was hiding certain things from us all," Obi-Wan said softly, careful to keep it from being accusatory. "It may take a bit of time to unravel. 

"If you prefer not to be sedated, and you are able to walk on your own, we could go to our quarters… or perhaps it is necessary to discuss this more with the Senator that will have to make the report, in an environment where she can take notes more easily?"

There, that was the closest he could make himself come to admitting she was better for Anakin right now that he could be.

Padmé almost held her breath at the way the two of them were interacting, the way Obi-Wan was being so, so careful with Anakin, the way he avoided saying even half of what he'd said to her... "I had rather _not_ make that report until I understand more," she said, her eyes on her husband's face, her fingers stroking his cheek, "but if I would be welcome, getting out of _here_ sounds like an excellent plan." 

Anakin made a low noise, considering. He wanted Padmé, he hurt and she was the center of his world in so many ways... but he could feel that his Master was concerned for him, that he wanted to help. Because it was easier than thinking about the Chancellor having had a bond to him, he replied to Padmé's words instead, too tired to hide or fight. "You're always welcome with me, milady. If...?" 

Looking to Obi-Wan with that request made him tense, but... he had to. They were _their_ quarters. 

"If you can tolerate the mess. Three beings living in a space for two, and two of whom insist on rebuilding engines on the tables, makes for a mess." Obi-Wan gave Anakin an amused smile at that. Watching Ahsoka and Anakin bond over mechanics had been good.

"I don't mind," Padmé answered quietly, letting her fingers slide down to Anakin's shoulder. "At all. So, Ani, can you manage?" 

"It's to get out of the Hall," Anakin replied, starting to push himself up, "and I'm not missing any important pieces. It's not a problem." 

Obi-Wan was... actively encouraging Padmé to stay? Maybe he was hallucinating... no, his head hurt too much to be hallucinating. Maybe his Master had been hit in the head? 

"You can guide her while I deal with Knight Nimpur," Obi-Wan said. He left them to do so, his arguments ready.

Only Krieth did not wish to argue as she had no true mind healer available and she was not going to volunteer. So Obi-Wan caught up to them at the lift.

"Much easier to deal with her," he said.

Anakin snorted quietly, "Than Master Che? Definitely." 

Comms beeped, Obi-Wan and Anakin's alike, and Anakin's arm tightened on his wife, nerves hitting him. Whatever that was, he didn't want to answer it. 

Obi-Wan answered his, voice only. "Obi-Wan here. Anakin is with me."

"Meeting of the Council," Master Yoda's voice said, quiet and solemn, "and then of all Jedi, there must be. But... injured, Knight Skywalker is? Mm. With him, you should remain." 

He was _definitely_ hallucinating, if Master Yoda sounded that concerned about _him_. But Obi-Wan would probably leap at the 'must' from him and go, like always. Why did that thought hurt, not just in his chest, but in his mind? 

"I appreciate that, Master. If I can be informed of any pertinent details, I would be happy. I've requested Senator Amidala remain with me as a witness to events for now. As I am certain we will need to inform the Senate eventually."

"Wise, that is."

Wait, what? Anakin blinked at his Master as the lift opened and he held it for Padmé to step in, followed her, then went back to trying to figure out when exactly the world had turned upside down... and Obi-Wan was staying with them, when the Council should be meeting? What? 

And what had that been, the sharp ache in his mind about Obi-Wan surely disappearing to the Council? Ow. There it was again.

Despite himself, Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin in response to that. Yoda cleared off the comm and Obi-Wan sighed.

"Sorry, Padmé. But better they know you're with me."

"No, no. There is no need to apologize, my friend," Padmé answered, "I agree with you." 

Warm, soothing hand on his shoulder, his Master's presence solid and steadying, even though the touch was surprising. So rare, for so long, and with the way everything hurt... he leaned sideways, into it, soaking up the touch while he had it. He even managed to cut off his momentary displeasure at Obi-Wan's phrasing about Padmé -- he _had_ asked her, and he was the one that was a Master of the Council. 

"If I was unconscious long enough to get to the Temple, and then some... how can half the Core not already know the Chancellor is dead?" he asked, baffled by that one phrase of Obi-Wan's. 'Inform the Senate _eventually_ '? 

"Neither of us reported it and the press was not on scene," Obi-Wan said. "With the effect on you and the Force, I presume Master Yoda is withholding news so far."

"It would be wise," Padmé said softly, "to have enough information."

Anakin nodded, wondering at the comment about 'you and the Force'... but he didn't ask, not while they were in the lift. He wasn't good at patience, despite how much he'd needed it when he was young, but they hadn't locked the lift, either. He would be patient until they were actually sure to be alone. 

It didn't take long to reach their quarters where Obi-Wan quickly secured water for them all, leaving Anakin to clear enough of the couch for Padmé to sit. 

"Anakin, I am sorry that things happened this way," he said, coming back.

Anakin took the glass offered to him, handing the other to his wife before he sank down onto the floor to lean back against her leg and the couch. He didn't -- feel like himself, not really, though the floating, disconnected sensation was much lessened. And he still very much didn't understand how what they'd told him could be true. 

Obi-Wan was... apologizing? That _never_ happened, and he looked up at his Master's eyes, still confused at everything and more confused by that. "Master?" 

"If Palpatine was hiding Force ability, if the wave of Dark Energy in the Force was his death, then I failed to protect you. If it is unrelated, you lost a friend." The elder man sat on the smaller loveseat after moving Ahsoka's project to the table. 

A wave of Dark Force energy? Released along with the Chancellor's death? "I -- don't remember that. I remember Artoo going to get the Chancellor and being slapped away, then the strike... pain, and... nothing." 

Dark Force energy, and the Chancellor? That was ridiculous, impossible, but -- Obi-Wan looked so sad. And that 'failed to protect you'... he didn't need to be protected, he wasn't a child anymore! But... that pain in Obi-Wan's eyes. 

Padmé's hand settled on the crown of his head, slid down, her fingers running through his hair, and he leaned back into that comforting touch. It helped, a little, with the pounding in his head. 

Artoo, who had been quiet, rolled over to his pilot and turned on his holoprojector, playing his memory of flying backwards, trying to see what was happening. The Beast snatching up the lying man that had brought the Beast to Coruscant and biting, and the waves/bursts of strange light bursting from where it had bitten him. So many frequencies of light that he could not show even half of them, but he wanted to help. 

"Thank you, Artoo," Padmé said.

"Nothing a Senatorial Guard carried should have done that," Obi-Wan said. "I don't recall seeing that from Maul, but then, he failed to remain dead." Some bitterness was in his voice for that.

"No," Anakin had to agree, after staring at the empty space where the holoprojection had been for long moments, seeing that fountaining energy even though the image was gone. "Nothing the guards carry would do that. And... the Beast was... it _looked_ at us. It tracked us. Through the underbelly of the Senate itself, and was waiting. 

"What happened to it?" He didn't much care, but at the same time... He couldn't think about that comment on Maul, not right now, even as it did start to sketch out a framework for everything he didn't understand (or didn't want to believe). 

"It stopped," Padmé answered, running her fingers through his hair again. "It just... stopped, and laid down. I saw them using the stun tanks, and I didn't see any bombs dropped. It was still alive when we left to bring you here." 

"If we could save it, Mace would. He's always been the type to protect the helpless." Obi-Wan liked that about his friend more than most of his traits. "Was it maybe hunting? I know the Force was sluggish for us, so I could not discern its motivation."

"Mm," Anakin said, "he certainly did want to save it." 'Helpless' was hardly a term he would apply to that gigantic creature, but then again; it hadn't been that difficult to overcome, with the right weapons. "...I'd say yes, it was hunting," he agreed, after thinking about that giant eye looking at them calculatingly, "but... "

Why? How? 

Well, the evidence of how had just come from Artoo's data banks. The Chancellor had been using the -- 

\-- no, that was _ridiculous_ \-- it was the only thing that made sense -- ow, ow that **hurt**... 

"Ani, I don't like the logical answer here," Padmé said, her fingers still stroking through his hair. "And yet, Dooku told us all a Sith controlled the Senate."

"Which we all took as a lie to misdirect us," Obi-Wan told them. "Who could believe that?"

No one, of course. It was a ridiculous thought. The Senate and the Order worked so closely together, lived so closely together... surely no Sith could hide on Coruscant itself. Even if the Dark Side was clouding the visions of those gifted that way (except his, for some reason), it was impossible that Dooku could have been telling the truth. Completely impossible. 

He didn't believe it -- " _Ow_ ," he actually complained aloud, fingers gripping his temples, as pain slammed through his skull again. 

Obi-Wan flinched and started forward, then forced himself back on the loveseat. "Which is why we need you to consent to a mind-healer. Is there anyone you would allow to help you work through this?" he asked, hoping he had his worry hidden. It wasn't like Anakin to admit pain, after all.

Anakin tipped his head slightly, searching his Master's face, then twisted around enough to look at his wife. Obi-Wan had her here, had had nothing to say about her closeness to him or her obvious love.... That changed his assessment of things, if he would -- /he will never let you stay, if he knows.../ 

That **hurt** , it didn't feel like _him_ , and Anakin reached for his Master one-handed. "Master, there's something..." 

Obi-Wan didn't mean to jump to Anakin's side, but he knew he moved far swifter than expected by either, especially as Padmé nearly squeaked at it. He settled on the floor near Anakin, eyes on his friend's face.

"Tell me?"

Obi-Wan had moved so quickly. Almost too quickly to see, and... it had been to come to him? To crouch with him, his eyes so worry-dark? 

He took a slow breath, and reached out to get hold of his Master's hand with his flesh one. "I... have a few reasons for not wanting any of us in my mind," he said, "but -- there's something... it feels... dark, jagged... and is only there about you, and it **hurts** , while not sounding entirely like me, and it..." 

He couldn't risk permanent damage from this, couldn't allow that, he needed help, and Obi-Wan -- /you know what he will say../ Ow, _ow_.

Padmé's eyes snapped for Obi-Wan to be careful, to treat Anakin gently as he glanced up at her. She was … protective, strongly so, in the Force.

Obi-Wan drew a breath in, got both hands around Anakin's offered one. "There is nothing, and I mean that, which I would not do to help you through this, Anakin. You are my brother, my former padawan, my friend. If I can help you, I will."

Taking a quiet, shuddering breath, Anakin kept hold of his wrist and started to let down the barriers he kept between himself and the rest of the universe, even his Master -- and a flare of instant panic, accompanied by a flash of Obi-Wan on Geonosis, threatening and yanking him to heel, almost made him slam them back up, but... there was that hold, the way Obi-Wan had moved. 

Obi-Wan drew in a deeper breath, letting it go slowly, then he let his own shields down. He let Anakin join him in a shared mindscape, and then looked around for the oddness attacking his partner. This could not be allowed to continue. 

Anakin felt those shields dropping, and it was... not easy, but possible, to join his Master, to look at what was going on from just slightly outside of himself... His own psyche looked -- like a bomb had exploded. 

//I do not wish to hurt you, Anakin. But this is far worse than what I dealt with,// Obi-Wan said softly. //I will be careful.//

//It already hurts,// Anakin said quietly, //but you.... you're trying to help. That makes the difference. It's -- it's all right, Master.//


	3. Desserts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fallout begins.

Padmé watched, quiet, her hand still resting lightly on Ani's shoulder, occasionally sliding it up through his hair, and wondered, as long minutes turned to an hour, and into a second one. Anakin kept shuddering, both of his hands flexing, and Obi-Wan's face had repeatedly drained of color. She had so little idea of what was going on... but she would swear that they had looked less strained in that hellish, blood-soaked sand two years ago. 

She wished she could see Anakin's face, but he was still pressed against her, and she took that for what it was worth. Artoo had made several circuits, and asked her what was going on twice, and taken it on himself to find her something to eat and a blanket, before Anakin gasped a breath that nearly echoed in the room and his body hit Obi-Wan's hard enough to knock them both to the ground. 

Obi-Wan was clinging to Anakin like his life depended on it. "I'm sorry. So sorry." What his brother had suffered, with him making it worse! He had made so many mistakes. 

Anakin burrowed in tighter, his forehead finding the curve of his brother's throat, his arms locking around his body, as the pain and relief he hadn't been able to express inside that mindscape ripped themselves out of his throat in desperate sobs. 

Obi-Wan hadn't condemned him. 

Despite everything they'd found, everything he'd done, all of his terrors (his own and those implanted in him)... his Master hadn't condemned him. Was holding him, was whispering that low 'I'm sorry' again. He shook his head and tightened his arm and stayed where he was, closer than he had let himself be to his Master in years. 

From up on the couch, where she was staring at her husband and his mentor, Padmé felt a wild relief surge through her veins, and carefully shifted her weight so that she could actually cease staring at them. Obi-Wan was apologizing and comforting Anakin... and that had needed to happen for as long as she had known them again. Anakin didn't need her to defend him, not right now, not from Obi-Wan, so... she would instead give them what privacy she could without drawing their attention. 

"I have you. I have you safe, Anakin. We're both right here." Obi-Wan got a hand free to stroke Anakin's back. Please let Ahsoka be too far away, too used to shielding to have picked up on Anakin's distress! That was the last thing they needed to deal with. "We're going to be fine. It's all going to work out for us."

Artoo rocked worriedly on all three of his feet, clasping arms flexing, and Padmé shook her head at him, holding a finger to her lips. They needed to be quiet, this time. 

Soft, comforting words, Obi-Wan petting him... Anakin clung on, staying as close as he could get, and slowly -- too slowly, probably -- he managed to pull himself back under something like control. Managed, at least, to stop sobbing, to be able to breathe rather than gasp, and release his grip a little. 

Anakin felt as empty as he had stumbling away from the Tusken village, as overwhelmingly relieved as he had been when he saw Padmé recovered from the virus and healthy again, and under both of those: horrified and betrayed, more than he had **ever** felt. Feeling so many things at once was terrible, but... he wasn't alone with it. His beloved (truly beloved, again, untainted by poisoned whispers in his mind) Master was with him, and Padmé was with him. 

With him, and probably very confused. He should... 

"Yes, you might want to," Obi-Wan said, lips twisting slightly with a warm smile, before he looked to Padmé. "Milady, I do apologize for monopolizing your husband… and well-done, as I thought it was merely an affair… through this.

"It is as things appeared, based on what I found in Anakin. He was, and had been, manipulated by Sith energies." He sighed. "I should share that with Master Yoda."

She shook her head, as a sick horror welled up in her. That sounded like more than just a shattered bond, it sounded like... like that man had been _warping_ her Ani. **Her** husband. Then she saw Anakin flinch at the mention of the ancient Grand Master, and the next thing she knew, she was off the couch and curled against their sides, her arm up over and around her husband's back, murmuring softly to him. It took a few moments before she could pay attention to the rest of what Obi-Wan had said, and sort out responses to them. 

"Thank you, Obi-Wan, for the congratulations," she said, smiling at him in a delight she hadn't known she even hoped to feel. "And there's hardly a need to apologize. I couldn't have helped him, not with -- that." 

This was definitely a change, Anakin thought startledly, Padmé's weight and warmth against his back, his side, her hold steady and strong as she was. 

"Shh, Ani," Obi-Wan soothed. "He will only know what he needs to know. And I will not allow them to badger you over it." He shifted to make it more comfortable for all of them to be close. "It will be fine. I promise you."

He had faith in Obi-Wan's word, Anakin reminded himself, and nodded at the reassurance, the promise that his Master would say only what needed to be said. And oh, that iron tone on 'will not let them' was such a comfort. Obi-Wan was right, the Council probably _did_ need to know he'd been being manipulated. But the Council was the Council, and -- 

"Snips?!" he asked, sudden and sharp, afraid of losing his padawan, of -- "my men?" -- if they decided he was... compromised by everything. ..

Obi-Wan's face grew dark and threatening -- at the Council. "You will not lose anything in this! I am certain your mind is clear after the work we just did, and you are very much the Jedi that both the 501st and Ahsoka need!" There was no way in all the galaxy that Obi-Wan was going to let Anakin be punished for this, when the thing he needed most was to be back out there trying to end it!

Anakin re-buried his head in his Master's shoulder and throat, his arm tightening around Obi-Wan as best he could manage it. That promise, sharp and intent, almost dangerous... and not at him, at the Council? He was absolutely certain that reality had shifted drastically, but he thought he liked this version much better. 

He felt his wife's approval surge through her, satisfaction and pleasure at his brother's response, and loved her a little more. "Thank you, Master." 

That display, that sharpness... Padmé could wish that it had come a little sooner, that Obi-Wan had spent more time defending her husband and less criticizing him, but at least it was here now. At least he was being, giving, what Anakin had so badly and for so long needed from him. 

He would protect Anakin from the fallout of this _disaster_ with the Council, she would do what she could with the Senate when that became necessary, and they would get through this. They _would_ , she had as much faith in that as Obi-Wan did. But Obi-Wan was starting to look rather uncomfortable in the tangle they currently were. "Ani, love," she murmured, "why don't we take your couch back over? You take the middle of it, and I'm certain Master Kenobi will re-join us once he's finished with that report." 

Obi-Wan looked gratefully at her, even as his arms didn't really want to loosen from Anakin. "I really do need to smooth things out, and see what we do know so far on other fronts."

Padmé nodded, smiling at him -- even more, for that he did not immediately try to let go -- as she petted Anakin gently, coaxing with easy fingertips, waiting for them to move before she did. 

Slowly, Obi-Wan's arms started to loosen from around him, and Anakin moved enough to let him up. While he was doing that, he might as well take Padmé's advice and get up on the couch. He shifted sideways a little, and Padmé moved too. 

Obi-Wan rose, swayed a bit from the strain of the evening, and then went to the kitchen to comm Master Yoda, waiting patiently, in case Council was too busy to be interrupted.

"Obi-Wan," Master Yoda said instantly, image popping to view, his ears folded back, "doing, what have you been? Ringing, the Force has been!"

Obi-Wan breathed out slowly. "I have been saving my former padawan from a severed Force bond… and all of the nasty little compulsions and mental tricks I found behind them." He ran a hand over his hair, pushing it back. 

"Shattered -- " Yoda made a sharply displeased noise. "See _that_ , how did we not? Mmm, mmm. And compulsions... mmm. Terrible. Young Skywalker... how is?" 

"Anakin will recover fully. He is… more committed than ever to ending the war, to being a Jedi," Obi-Wan said. "He is, however, quite understandably dealing with many emotions, as the Chancellor was considered a true friend." He almost felt a wish to be able to kill the man over again.

"Mmm. True, this is. ...only a boy was he, not to blame for this. Deceived we all were." Yoda was quiet for a long moment. "His voice... compelling to the Senate, it will be, when recovered enough he is." 

"With Senator Amidala at least witness to the physical effects of trying to purge it as corroboration, Master," Obi-Wan agreed. "How soon do you need her to be ready to go to the Senate? Has the news been released?"

"To the Guard, and the Security Council, it has," Master Yoda agreed. "That body... displeased is. Scrambling, they are, if one is blunt. The whole of the Senate, informed has not been. Find out, I shall, when that announcement is to come. There for it, Senator Amidala should be." 

"Then I will insure she is. And if Anakin can endure that, I will have him there as well. Just let me know, Master." He waited to see if Yoda had more.

"I shall. Speak to you again, soon, I will," Yoda agreed, and turned the comm off. 

+++

Anakin hadn't been listening, had been resting with Padmé, just letting the peace he could now feel soak through him. 

Anakin curled up against his wife, letting her hold him, as he breathed. Living his life over, at speed, while Obi-Wan fought against the influences laid in his mind and the shattered bond... had been exhausting. So was crying the way he had. "I love you, angel," he whispered, soft.

"I love you, Ani," Padmé told him, carding her fingers through his sweat-dampened hair. "That looked terrible. And… I'm going to save my screaming fit for the range. Because right now, you need me."

Anakin nuzzled her, breathing again, leaning into her hand. He could feel her anger for him, protective and loving, and it felt... good. Reassuring, not stabbing knives of pain. "I... it was. And if I wasn't so tired, I'd really, **really** want to be somewhere there's heavy ground fighting, just to work out how angry I am. I do need you, I always do."

"I need you too, Anakin." She was so thankful that they were together through this. She would have been heartsick to not be there for him through something like this.

Obi-Wan returned to them, taking the spot on the floor and leaning his head back to where it was as close to Anakin as he could get.

"The Security Council and the Guard are aware. Master Yoda will inform me when the Senate is to be told. Milady, you will be needed there at that point… and Anakin, if you can find the strength for it, your evidence would be appreciated.

"If you cannot, though, it will be understood and you can give it later."

Anakin blinked down at his Master on the floor in confusion, then gave up on understanding and just wrapped his fingers around his shoulder. "I'll... I'll manage it, Master. I mean, the best thing I can do is be honest, right?" 

"About him, yes. Let's try and not cause a scandal over anything else yet." Obi-Wan leaned into that touch lightly. "We'll fight that battle once our men are safe from this war, I think."

+++

Before Yoda could comm them, Anakin's comm insistently buzzed at him until he finally gave up on telling it to ignore the incoming request and he brought it up for voice only.

"Skywalker."

"Master?"

The voice was small and scared, as well as full of pain and fatigue but it was definitely Ahsoka. Obi-Wan frowned; had she been caught up in the nightmare all the way out on her mission? Padmé was frowning too; that did not sound like the confident young padawan she had met at all.

"Snips!" Anakin shifted up a little, his blue eyes darkening with his sudden and intense worry over his padawan.

"You're okay, oh thank the Force!"

"Oh Snips… yeah, I'm… well, no, I'm not fine, but I am okay. I'm with Obi-Wan, and things got pretty bad for a bit, but I'm going to be alright."

"But you're on Coruscant!" she answered that indignantly, before making a sound that sounded like her being a little sick, probably from moving too fast with whatever was hurting her.

"You don't sound good, Snips," he said to that.

"My head. It's been killing me for hours. And I don't think it's my fault!"

"No, it's probably mine. And no, I can't tell you why. I will when I see you again," Anakin answered her, though he planned to edit it heavily. "Try shielding harder, Ahsoka. I'm not sure there won't be a little more of whatever you did feel, so try and block me out. I'll try on my end."

"If you're sure, Master."

"I am," Anakin assured her. "I'll see you in a few days, alright, Snips? Just do your best."

"I will, Skyguy. You just… be careful, with whatever it is."

"Alright, little one," he said, smiling at her protectiveness toward him. It was soothing, even as he hated that she had been caught in the storm. The comm clicked off then, and he settled back with the other two, closing his eyes. 

"You and she have a strong bond," Obi-Wan said neutrally. "That is a good thing, except in times like this."

"Yeah, we do. I wish it hadn't hit her, but… I'm glad _he_ didn't get a chance to poison that!"

Padmé chuckled softly. "I have a feeling there would have been a Togruta-shaped headache for the Council, demanding answers on why you were behaving badly, had he managed. Given how fierce she is."

"She is that," Obi-Wan agreed. "She's also accustomed to being a headache to many of them, so Padmé is likely correct."

"I know," Anakin said, with firm pride in his stubborn, reckless padawan.

+++

Somehow, after the meeting with the Senate, the very exhausted and dazed trio found themselves at Padmé's apartment. It made sense, in one way, as it was so close, but Obi-Wan almost wished he'd managed to come up with a way to separate and leave them to their privacy.

"If you give another speech like that, milady, they'll be nominating you for the Chancellery," he said, referring to her impassioned speech to halt the war efforts to merely holding where they were, until they knew just what they were dealing with in the fallout of the revelations behind Palpatine's death.

"Force protect me from any such attempt," Padmé replied, shaking her head. She did not want the weight of that responsibility -- she had held too much power once already -- or that scrutiny. It would make it even more difficult to be there for Anakin the way he deserved from her. "Besides, with this revelation? I sincerely doubt I could be in consideration. I was too close to him for too long. Also, they never elect from the same world in succession." 

Anakin made a quiet noise, his hand light on her fingers, just because he needed to touch her, and could, in front of Obi-Wan. "You'd be good at it." 

"Ani," she said, voice soft with all her love for him, "you're biased." 

Obi-Wan gave a small snort. "I know they will be yelling for Bail to follow in his predecessor's shoes and try for it, but I also am fairly certain he's eying anyone he can to handle the job instead. He's apart from his wife too much as it is, or so he says."

"It needs to be a non-human," Padmé said, after nodding to that, and deciding she wanted to know how the notorious Kenobi, master of distrust for politicians, knew that much about her colleague. "It would go a longer way to reassuring those Separatists we can court back, given what these revelations should do to that alliance. It might even convince Corellia to come back into the Senate proper, to the Republic, to help us negotiate an end to the war more quickly."

Anakin turned his head to blink at her, then nodded his understanding. Other than Mas Amedda, the Chancellor had never shown anything but a resigned tolerance for non-humans at best. That had been one of the few things that had bothered him about the man, even before -- he cut the thought off sharply, rather than fall back into his emotions. "...you're right about that," he said aloud. 

Given the makeup of the Separatist worlds, she was doubly right. Which still left the vital question of 'who', of course, but... he couldn't really regret that it wouldn't be his wife. No matter how good he thought she would be at it. 

"Hmm, you are brilliant, Padmé." Obi-Wan offered her a small smile. "In fact, as I know you have to be exhausted, and Anakin truly needs rest, I'd love to go talk to Bail about helping steer the selection in that direction, if I may use the speeder we came in?"

"Of course you're welcome to it, Obi-Wan," Padmé answered, before remembering just what tended to happen to vehicles with either of these men at the helm, and she added affectionately, "just try to bring it back intact?" 

Anakin wanted to sleep for another week, but he couldn't help snickering at the tone of Padmé's voice at his Master. 

"Oh I will. It's only my fighters I crash. Anakin's the one for speeders," Obi-Wan said blandly, before letting himself push off the couch he'd fallen on so he could go beg a bed, and conversation, from his friend.

Anakin shot him a sharp look, but... he couldn't actually _argue_ all that much. The idea of his Master not being right with him was not really appealing, but at the same time he very much did want time alone with his wife. How like him, to want two mutually exclusive things. "Yeah, but you just said you would, so I really ought to get a bet with someone on the likelihood..." he retorted instead. 

Obi-Wan gave him a tired wave and a chuckle, memories of when he had started crashing ships seeping in… yes, definitely better for him to get to Bail's if nostalgia was rearing up.

Anakin watched him go, then turned to look tiredly at his wife. "Do we take his advice?" 

"Come to bed, my husband." 

"As you wish, milady." 

+++

By mutual wish, the investigation of Palpatine's belongings was handled with two Senators, a Guard, a Jedi, and an Inspector from CorSec. It was intended to maintain neutrality in the proceedings, for the sake of those few Senators stubbornly insisting the Jedi tale was too wild and made of falsehoods. Luckily, those were in the minority, as some (including a very disgraced Twi'leki Senator) had abandoned pretenses and come forward with details of unsavory offerings from the Chancellor's office, often handled by Mas Amedda.

That one, under house arrest, had yet to speak on events at all.

Today, Senator Chuchi, representing the growing cabal of pro-armistice Senators, was leading a search through the office that had been sealed. To her side, Edcel Bar Gane was representing the shrinking pro-war side of things, eager to find anything that might exonerate the dead man.

Their Jedi, as usual, was Master Tera Sinube, who cautioned for methodical, slow searching in all aspects, winning grudging approval from the war-loving Senators, and the CorSec inspector. 

Today was the day they had decided to deal with the desk -- which almost immediately required the assistance of the Inspector, as no keys to the locks on the drawers were found -- and as the second drawer (the first had held only small office supplies) slid open, Riyo heard herself gasp. Two lightsaber hilts lay in that compartment. 

Bar Gane, having seen that even the Inspector had been troubled to get the desk open, shuddered as he saw those, then his shoulders slumped. There was unlikely to be a rational explanation… and all of his dealings took on truly sinister levels of unease in his mind. He had hoped the Jedi were lying, yet… why had he believed that to begin with?

"Master Jedi, if you would activate one, to display the blade?" the inspector asked, even as the Guard, a lieutenant, narrowed his eyes behind his helmet. If they truly had been obeying a Sith, if the deaths of so many brothers and their orders here on Coruscant that had put them against the people from time to time, then their entire honor was forfeit.

Was this what had led to Commander Fox being found unresponsive after the Beast's attack? Had he known? Was he like that traitor on Christophsis? Had he tried to take a coward's death, knowing his treachery would be discovered?

Or had he been… a puppet? The lieutenant would have to discuss it with the rest of the Guard's commanding staff.

Master Sinube lifted one carefully in a gloved hand, turning the device away from them all, and pushed the activator, revealing a red blade. Likewise, its mate shone crimson. It was a well known fact that no Jedi ever used a red blade, and why. It was enshrined in Republic myth and legend.

Riyo took a half-step back before Master Sinube deactivated them again, her skin faintly crawling at the sight of those crimson blades. She had seen Sith lightsabers before, and while she had already believed, this proof was still unsettling. "I find those convincing," she said, just loudly enough to be heard by the others, "but suspect they will not be the last unpleasant thing we find. Senator Bar Gane, Inspector, do you have any objections to the Master Jedi retaining them?"

"I would like to analyze them for fingerprints and DNA," the Inspector replied, "but after that, no, I do not." 

"I would appreciate you taking such evidence from them, Inspector, as I will be most carefully archiving all that is found in a report for posterity," Master Sinube promised him, placing the hilts into evidence bags. "Just as we shall be undertaking a journey to find all evidence of the path to this point, so that future generations may be better guarded from such treachery."

Bar Gane stepped forward a little, peering into the drawer. "Why would a communicator be tucked in that drawer, with those? Who does it connect to?"

If his position was about to crumble, he would damn well do all he could to shore it up by helping fully now!

"You're right," Riyo agreed with him softly, "that is strange." She was aware of his sudden change, and had no concern about it. He was helping, not hindering, and that was what was important. Checking her gloves, she reached carefully for it, placing it carefully on the desk once it was in her hand. "Wait. Could this be a means of communication to the Separatists? If we believe the Jedi -- and I do -- this could go directly to Count Dooku, if activated." 

"It would be best to wait and let a slicer check it over," the Inspector said neutrally. "Master Jedi, are you in agreement?"

"I am, Inspector. We do not wish that to be activated, but we must know its history of comms and any hidden triggers it has," Sinube told them all. "Our gratitude, Senator Gane, for your sharp eyes and cooperation."

+++

What that comm did began a mild panic in those present during its secrets being unraveled. Fortunately for them all, Master Sinube was still there, and not so old that he could not exude both a calming presence and control of the situation, if in a rather unusual and somewhat doddering way.

The comm, like the lightsabers, and the full slicer data package was given, willfully, to the Jedi, while its intent, without details, was delivered to the Senate, putting the nails in the proverbial coffin, never mind that the beast had saved the Republic the cost of a public lying in state and all of that by devouring the Sith.

No one doubted that title any longer, not after the plot to murder the Jedi, en masse, came out, though the mechanism for how was obscured. Nor did many people pick up on the fact that the many, many soldiers of the Republic were cycled through the best medical facilities over the days following the declaration of Palpatine's entire rule being invalidated, with all laws he had signed under review by the Security Council.

Getting the men rotated was a logistical nightmare that Obi-Wan had quailed at but he was more than willing to try… and Mace Windu gently, firmly pushed him aside and made it happen with efficiency.

They did still have a war on, but between the fall-back to Republic worlds, the fact that some Separatist worlds turned out to seriously resent having been played by Sith manipulators, and a coup inside the Trade Federation only days after the information was released... it slowly started to look like there was at least something of a chance for peace. Assuming they could find Dooku and Grievous and deal with them, anyway. 

Eventually, though, the pattern fell into something like hope, as the Separatists were nowhere near as prepared to face a re-dedicated GAR and Republic Fleet, not without their inside sources. One way or another, as the Republic purged itself of the corruption at its heart, the Jedi were going to end the fighting, and let the rebuilding truly begin.


End file.
